Candace Almy is right to convey that message via her artwork. It is totally melancholy to witness so many of our people being murdered by the police and by other evil people. Since the establishment of this country of America (and before the 18th century), black people have been terrorized and stripped of our human rights by a racist, capitalist oligarchy. Sister Candace Almy is certainly conveying what we are thinking about. The injustice of non indictments for the officers involved in the death of Tamir Rice is an outrage. No indictment in dealing with the death of Sandra Bland is also an injustice and a tragedy. The families of the victims are going through unspeakable hurt. The fact that the cops refused to use first aid to Tamir Rice after he was shot for four minutes shows the callous nature of that murdering cop. Over 1,100 human beings have been killed by the police which is much higher than many industrialized nations. It is obvious that Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty in Ohio issued a whitewash with that biased grand jury hearing. McGinty scoured the country to obtain reports from three “expert” witnesses, all of whom are longtime members or associates of law enforcement agencies. These agencies falsely determined that Loehmann’s actions were “objectively reasonable.” So, these conflicts of interests have caused a mischaracterization of the truth and the injustice continues. The US Department of Justice has not massively prosecuted crooked cops in the past 3 years. These killer cops act with impunity in American society unfortunately. Many militarized equipment is found in the hands of the local police too. So, this was a whitewash and the working class has been the victims of this evil for so long. We, as black people, will continue to voice the truth. Our black humanity should always be respected.
Bless Sister Candace Almy.
#Black Lives Matter.
RIP Tamir Rice
RIP Sandra Bland.

Me personally, if I was in a religious location for a special occasion (or not), I will dress up. I don't view TD Jakes wearing jeans as a super big deal. That's his business. I am more concerned about the doctrines that religious leaders talk about from the pulpit than clothing attire. That is the essence of the matter. There should be a balance. I don't believe that people in a religious location should wear inappropriate clothing, but T.D. Jakes' attire is his own affair. My only exception is during a funeral. I don't believe that any clergymen should wear some jeans if he is giving a sermon during a funeral (unless stated by the deceased's family that the pastor can wear something more casual). I can't co-sign that in my opinion, especially if the deceased person's family members requested conservative attire. I don't view Jakes' attire as going too far. The experiences of Eddie Conway should be known. The same methods of imperialism overseas back then decades ago continue today. The working class and the poor has been readily exploited by oligarchical, corporate forces. The courts, the prison system, and the military industrial complex has ruined the lives of so many people. Today, we still live in the system of plutocracy. We are still fighting racism, sexism, classism, and other evils. There should be a radical end to the current system of oppression, so a real system of justice and tranquility can rise about.

I'm glad that both of them got caught. Both of them aren't very bright since Puerto Vallarta, Mexico is a known tourist spot where many Americans visit for the holidays. I knew that they would be captured sooner or later. This male killed innocent human beings and her mother is an evil person too. This male knew what he was doing. He made a conscious decision to try to escape a hearing and he was discovered and caught by authorities. Prison sentences should be given to both of them. Nearing the New Year, we have seen the fascist views of Donald Trump and others in full display in American society. We know that a low wage economy is a disaster for any society. We know that Hitler and Mussolini attacked real wages too. There is the Wall Street financier oligarchy that desire massive austerity in the world. Many people are deluded in following a super-rich speculator and economic exploiter like Trump. Even in his own Hotels, he is a known union buster. Fascism and neo-fascist ideologies deal with contempt for reason, the rejection of reality, and anti-intellectualism. He or Trump views China, Mexico, and Japan as enemy states in dealing with trade. He is hostile to Iran when Iranians collectively haven’t been involved in every terrorist attack on Earth. A demagogue like Trump refuses to nationalize the Federal Reserve, give 0 percent long term federal credit for infrastructure, energy production, education, manufacturing, mining, and agriculture. He talks about hedge funds, but he wants to abolish the estate tax, which is worth about $20 billion. He complains about the 19 trillion dollar U.S. debt, but his tax plan will balloon the federal deficit by just under $10 trillion in the first decade, and then by $15 trillion in the second decade. Therefore, his extremist agenda is rather clear. .

For years, we have to deal with evil people who promote bigotry and intolerance. Donald Trump is the representation of that bigotry and hatred. Trump's evil precepts aren't new. White supremacists and far right extremists readily love many of the ideologies of Trump. We see an increase of hate crimes against Muslims in the United States of America. That is not right. A New York middle school student wearing a hijab was assaulted by three fellow students who called her "ISIS" and tried to rip off her hijab as they punched her. We see many folks who want to scapegoat everyone in a religion or in a race for the economic and political problems in America. That isn’t right either. So, Donald Trump’s ideas are repulsive, but they aren’t embraced by all people of America. There are still many Americans who believe in equality, who reject xenophobia (as the words of Ezra Lazarus ring true then during the 19th century and today in the 21st century), and who want racial justice. Donald Trump is explicitly clear in his extremism. He desires no increase of the minimum wage. He has made many sexist remarks. He said that a black man (who is a BLM activist) deserves to be beaten in a Trump rally. Donald Trump believes that all Muslims overseas shouldn’t come into America. Trump is silent about the epidemic of police terrorism domestically and Western imperialism overseas. He refuses to expose the War on Drugs and how it has harmed the lives of many black people. Trump’s narcissism is off the chain. Therefore, we know what we are up against. We are against racism, sexism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and any injustice. For our Muslim Brothers and Sisters: We will always defend your human rights. We believe in black liberation and we will fight for it courageously and without compromise.

I think that the interview from Sister Claudia Rankine was very interesting and it shows a lot of insights that many people don't get to see. She is a very intelligent human being. Racism is complicated. It is not just about a person saying slurs (which is racism too). It is about the systematic forces that prevents a black person (with great qualifications) from having a job or it involves a black person being followed in a store for no other reason but because of that black person's race. Racism can exist in many manifestations. Many white folks know the truth. Some of them just don't care. Some of them just want to either minimize racism and some just deny it outright. We have to speak out. Nothing changes unless we speak out and use action to fight back. That's in our history from the slave revolts to the protests against oppression in the Deep South. We have resisted also in our generation in Ferguson, Baltimore, and in other places of America. We have resisted in Brazil when thousands of Afro-Brazilians stood up against sexism, racism, police terrorism, etc. in Brazil recently. That's our history. Our history deals with resistance against evil. Darren Wilson calling Michael Brown a "demon" shows the anti-black bias and anti-black hatred found in many people.
Her greatest point in the interview is how "Empathy is not a cure." I certainly love that point. We, as black people don't want to be treated as tokens and receive faux empathy from anyone. We want justice. We want the freedom to live our lives as we see fit without discrimination and without oppression. We want our descendants to see a world where a black child can walk down the streets and won't be killed by a crooked cop. We want to live. We want to realize our dreams and aspirations by our own hands and by our own power. The power of self-determination and the power of our intellectual creativity relate directly to the hope, to the dream, and to the passion for liberty that we adhere to (and focus on) as human beings. We are human beings. We have the right to be liberated and have justice by birthright.

The Movement against police terror and other injustices actually grew bigger since I started this thread last year. It intensified enormously with the death of Freddie Gray in the custody of the police. I have myself participated in demonstration numbering in the thousands, sometime side by side with some of my students. Some activists have even movd to Baltimore to assist in organizing. Police patrols have been set up in parts of town. I am now working with Marshall Eddy Conway, a former Panther leader who is now focusing his attention on the Sandtown area where Freddie lived. But I'm trying to focus my attention more on the Eastside where I grew up. The Struggle continues, and will continue until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."

Islam is not a race, but Muslims can be RACIALIZED and falsely relegated to racial inferiority (by racists). In that case, Islamophia does become a kind of racism. Similarly, Judaism is not a race. But when Jews were racialized and falsely relegated to inferiority by racists, anti-Jewish prejudice and discrimination (or anti-Semitism) evolved into a kind of racism. Frankly, our ancestors didn't begin as a race either. They were Ashanti, Ibo, Fulani, Yoruba, Wolof or what have you. They became racialized and falsely relegated to an inferior racial status. We know this as white racism, or anti-Black racism. As it became institutionalized throughout the entire social structure of America, becoming (as Dr. King argued) a "structural part of the culture," we tend to call it structural or institutional racism. Scientifically speaking, neither Biology nor Anthropology takes race seriously as anything more than a social construct; indeed, race in a scientific sense does not exist. But anyone, or any group of people can be racialized. Once this happens, race does exist as a serious social reality. With regard to Muslims, right wingers (and some liberals) are often racializing Muslims. Some Europeans speak of Muslims in language very similar to the way in which we are spoken of by white American racists. If this continues then Muslims will be constructed as a race as have been Blacks, Jews and others.

If that estimate is correct, then the Black population of France is larger that I suspected. I knew just from my time in France that the black populations was quite larger in Paris, but thought perhaps this was due to Paris being such a large and cosmopolitan city, not necessarily representative of France as a whole. But if the Black population is about 7%, and if it continues to increase, it may be that in a century or less francophone Blacks would be as large a part of the French populations as we Afro-Americans are of the US population (12%--14%). Or maybe larger. That's fine with me as I truly enjoyed meeting Francophone black people in your country.

-Savant
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Oui. J'ais peur que: French liberty may be sacrifice on the pretext of security. The primary targets may be les Musslumans main tout la societe aussi finalement. Recent incidents in the USA may be the pretext for intensification of political repression aux-Etats-Unis aussi. En effet, je pense que Donald Trump est probablement un Fasciste Americain. Already we have a highly militarized police, a massive national security apparatus, a huge prison industrial complex, the old military industrial complex, and the erosion of civil liberties with the Patriot Act (issued under GW Bush, but finally signed into law by Obama). Aussi, les avocats reactionnaire filed suit against the Voting Rights Act of 1965, commonly regarded as the crown jewel of civil rights legislation. The Supine Court in 2013 struck down the enforcement clause in the Voting Rights Act, and numerous states with right wing Republican governors and legislators are passing new laws designed to disfranchise more liberal voters, surtout les citoyens Afro-Americains. We now live in dangerous times. And people who laugh or mock which I speak of fascistic tendencies in America, or of our fascist pig cops, may be in for a rude awakening.

-Savant

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Either you're lying or your Catholic parent failed to instill in you their attitudes of tolerance. What happened? Were you taken from them and reared by a Nazi uncle? After all, you're notorious in Topix for your racist intolerance. But I do recall that such clownish (but murderously unfunny) desposts like Hitler, Franco and quite a few others were Catholics too. And heaven knows we've seen oceans of intolerance and racism from American Irish and Italian Catholics.

REALITY: While educated Blacks of both genders are more likely to "marry out," the majority of them who do marry have Black spouses. You can look that up if you wish. In short, this entire thread is based a false premise.

If by "top" and "bottom" you refer to social class, or education, then your claims are factually false. The data shows that Blacks (male and female) most likely to marry out (and then most often with whites) are from the middle and upper classes, and educated. And contrary to claims that they only marry lower class, illiterate whites, they usually marry persons of similar circumstances as themselves. If Mrs. Huxtable (to use a TV example) marries out, she does not marry the white janitor, let alone the white hobo. If Mr. Huxtable were to marry out, he doesn't marry the white maid, waitress or welfare mom. Blacks from the poorer classes marry out less than do those from the middle and upper classes;' and when they do, then they also tend to marry white males or females of similar social circumstances. CLASS may really be the elephant in the room. Even people who cross the color line (and they're a minority) are not as likely to cross the CLASS LINE. It is what it is

-Savant
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There are some Americans of West African descent who were called in the 1960s & 70s (and sometimes now) "oreos." like the cookie, black on the outside and white on the inside, In essence, one consequence of the racist mental colonizing of our people has been, at certain EXTREMES, a negro with essentially a white racist frame of mind. He or she judges his or her own people in much the same way as do the white racist and white supremacist. If you look at even the language which some Americans of African descent use toward each other, is very similar to the language used by the white racist. The language, and imagery, are fairly well know, and described quite well in such books as THE SLAVE COMMUNITY and BLACK IMAGE IN THE WHITE MIND. Fanon's BLACK SKINS, WHITE MASKS is revealing of such mentalities in the context of French colonial rule. (His essay "West Indians and Africans" in TOWARD THE AFRICAN REVOLUTION is also insightful.) It's not so surprising as one might imagine. When Jews were oppressed and disfranchised in Europe their were anti-Semitic stereotypes and fixed racial concepts about the Jew. But a number of thinkers (including Sartre in LA QUESTION JUIVE, or in English ANTI-SEMITE AND JEW) noted that there were Jews who INTERNALIZED anti-Semitism. They thought and talked about their fellow Jews in much the same way as did the anti-Semitic gentle. They were anti-Semitic Jews. So, there are some parallels to the white racist negro. And you will see many white racist Negroes in Topix.

-Savant

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Who knows? There were some Republicans who voted for Obama. And there were the Reagan Democrats of the 1980s.

C'est un autre exemple de stupidite de freddy. Freddy never thinks to ask himself whether HE really knows what he's talking about. First, he says that I abandoned Black Baltimore for (presumably) white suburbia. Only problem is that this NEVER happened. Since Freddy the fool doesn't know me, why does he idiotically make assumptions. Now he says I have never had any run it with the police. I don't think I even know more than a handful of Black men who have NEVER had any run ins with police. I was nearly KILLED by police in Johnson Square in east Baltimore at age 17. Some of you already know of this. I've been stopped (as have many others) for driving while black, I have seen fascist pig cops beat up my father when I was a child. Of course, I can't expect freddy to know these things. But I can expect him to keep his mouth SHUT concerning things and people he knows nothing about. At least what an INTELLIGENT man would do. But you cannot expect intelligent behavior from a moron, and hence Freddy's behavior is hardly surprising,. I and my friend and family have had NUMEROUS encounters with police, and some of my childhood friends are contemporaries are now DEAD because of them. (Probably my militant 17 year old mouth would have given the pigs an excuse to kill me in Johnson Square had not an older neighbor, also in the Square, not advised me to let HIM handle this, also drop those books I was carrying lest the fascist pig cops say they thought those books were guns when they shot us!). The only racist here is freddy, a punk ass bigot who calls the black masses (in language identical with that of white racists) "pathological ." Freddy DEFENDS fascistic racist terror against Black communities in the name of law and order (just a Hitler reportedly did). And notice that as usual, NOTHING in his post is RELEVANT to my comments directed to Attai even though freddy posts in reply to my comments. It is simply one long Argumentum ad Hominem, a common reply of demagogues, fools, and COINTELPRO agents Also, his comments show a certain MORAL idiocy. Even if what he said had been true, should only those who have been personally victimized by police terrorism speak out against it? Should only Blacks speak out against anti-Black racism? Should only women speak out against patriarchal oppression? Are upper middle class whites from John Hopkins University all idiots for speaking out against police terror even though THEY have never experienced? Maybe the Abolitionists were idiots for speaking our against slavery. Neither they nor their friends and family were slaves. Actually, it is freddy is DEPRAVED and a moral idiot for NOT speaking out againt police terrorism, against racism and economic exploitation.

Trump est un sal fasciste!

-Savant

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I saw a survey which indicated that in an election Bernie Sanders would today beat Trump by a larger margin than would Hillary. Yet it is interesting that even though Sanders is second behind Hillary among Democrats he seems to get LESS media attention than Republicans who are not even near second behind Trump. That a proto-fascist like Trump could be the leading figure among Republican candidates indicates what bad shape the Party is in. It has been a long time since the Republican Party was the party of Lincoln and Abolition; when it was actually more progressive than the Democrats. It now borders of fascism, if indeed it hasn't already crossed over that border.

-Savant

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First of all, this fool didn't ASK me IF or WHY I supposedly abandoned East Bmore. He ASSUMED it. He didn ASK whether I had any run ins with the police, he ASSERTED that I did not. So, he is continually making stupid assertions about things he knows not of. Now I said before that what the Panthers used to say about certain unsavory element was true of freddy the fool: He's either a PIG or a FOOL. I've long known (from his stupid posts) that he's a fool. I've recently started to suspect he was also a pig. Those of you who are familiar with COINTELPRO tactics, if you've red some of their documents, know that one of their favorite tactics was to DEFLECT from issues, and try to direct attention against the person or character of their adversaries. if you recall I was engaged in a description of the dangerous police state developments in the USA when he repeated his same stupid jibberish about Savant protesting police violence when I've supposedly not had any run ins with the police. Most AA folk know that there are very few of us who have no run ins with police. Not only brothers and sisters in the hood, but even educated and well off Blacks as well. But in beginning a PERSONAL quarrel what freddy also does is to deflect from a POLITICAL ANALYSIS and social critique, which he knows he's incapable of rebutting. So, start a PERSONAL dispute instead. Now that is the common approach of the mentally incompetent and emotionally insecure, but also the common approach of provocateurs. Now the more intelligent readers probably know that what freddy the bootlicker calls a "childish attitude" toward the police is actually a more political sophisticated and progressive attitude. The ACLU, UN Commission on Human Rights, and even AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL has call out the USA on human rights violations, specifically mentioning police violence against African American communities and Latino communities. And a growing body of scholarly literature is increasingly coming to the same conclusions, more or less, as are the activists and supporters of Black community resistance to police terrorism. Increasingly, our "childish " attitude toward the police is taken up by growing numbers of whites, Asians, Latins, Jews, Arabs, and others. Even dumb ass Youtube reveals as much. Freddy the bootlicker unsurprisingly takes the perspective of the police, the Establishment. He assume that our wrong attitude toward the police causes their loony behavior. Why not assume instead that their reactionary attitudes and violence is what provokes Black animosity toward the police? Difference of perspective. Again, he referred to black communities as DEPRAVED. But he never refers to fascist pig cops as depraved. Perhaps because he is himself a black fascist. Or maybe Barros and Attai were right: he's a fascistic white British racist. He's scum anyway you look at it.

Afro-Brazilians are fighting for their human rights and liberation. They are exposing the myth of a racial democracy in Brazil. Last month, mostly 20,000 Brazilians of African descent (who are mostly women) came together to protest the sexism in Brazil and the racism in Brazil (where the police target and murder Black youth and there is gender based violence in Brazil). This act was courageous and it refutes the myths of a racially harmonious nation in Brazil. It is totally ludicrous to deny the truth that racism is real in Brazil. Black feminist scholar Sonia Beatriz dos Santos exposed racism in Brazil and she was demonized. Specifically dos Santos points to the “deep and intense” inequalities faced by Black women. “Poverty, mass sterilization, unsafe abortions and illiteracy are some of the signs of the prevalence of racism, sexism and social class subordination that still inform Brazilian society,” she wrote. Dos Santos has wrote great information about how Black women in Brazil experience racism and sexism. Many racists and sexists have shown false gendered and racialized stereotypes against black women. Many dark skinned people black men and black women have been slandered. According to Kaelyn Forde and Jihan Hafiz, a report states that on average six people (mainly black and poor) are killed every day in Brazil. This doesn’t include those murdered by death squads, which include police officers. Amnesty International reported that the number of daily murders much higher at 82 and again the majority are Black youth. The FBI and Brazilian Public Safety Forum statistics show that “Police in Brazil have killed nearly as many people in the past five years as U.S. police have killed during the past 30 years.” In Brazil in favelas in cities like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, black families have been forcibly evicted from their homes (mostly women and children). The bigots are anti-black and anti-poor in Brazil. The military from Brazil supported the UN occupation of Haiti under MINUSTAH (this occupation has caused violence and other atrocities against the Haitian people from rape to the introduction of cholera. Cholera has killed at least 9,000 people in Haiti and left thousands more people orphans, widows, and destitute families). As Jemima Pierre writes, for Brazil the country with the largest Black population Haiti has become its “imperial ground zero” and “Brazil has used its contribution to the occupation of the Black Republic to demonstrate its credentials as a regional power and to show the Americans and Europeans that it is ready for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. For Brazil, Haiti is also a training ground for domestic security and enforcements; its Haitian forces return to the country and deploy the tactics of military terror on its own poor Black and Brown favela dwellers.” This is why Afro-Brazilians are standing up for their Blackness. The protest of mostly 20,000 mostly women Afro-Brazilians wanted oppression to end in Brazil. Many black people of the African Diaspora (including black Americans) have come into Brasilla and other places of Brazil to learn from Afro-Brazilians about their struggle against racism, sexism, and state violence against Black people. There are seminars that discuss this issue. Women have given their stories. There have been indigenous women in Brazil (or Native Americans) marching in solidarity with their African Sisters too. Far right militarists are found in the National Congress. These extremists are racist, anti-communist, anti-worker, and some want a dictatorship. Many of them fired lived ammunition into the air and attacked protested. It quickly ended. Black women activists, workers, spiritualists, academics, mothers of murdered Black children, lawyers, young, old, etc. came together to stand up for their own bodies and for their own human rights. Black women of African descent and the entire human race in general should have freedom, justice, and equality totally.

In Venezuela, there was the recent electoral victory of the U.S. backed counter revolutionary parties in Venezuela. Afro-Venezuelans and other freedom loving people are opposed the Western imperial intervention in Venezuela. The U.S. should never control the national resources of Venezuela at all. We are in solidarity with the Venezuelan people. Reactionaries won control of the National Assembly. The Bolivarian Revolutions for years promoted participatory democracy, fair elections, and supported the rights of Afro descendants and other oppressed people in Venezuela plus globally. Many people work in cooperatives. The profits from Venezuela’s oil reserves have been invested in social programs. When oppressed people are freed or have successes, then we, who are black people in North America, triumph too. The issue is that white privilege does exist among the Venezuelan elite. There are imperialists who want Venezuela to be a pro-Western puppet state. The U.S. backed a failed coup in 2002, which was organized by the right wing Venezuelan elite. Many racists in Venezuela have killed Afrodescedants in Venezuela. U.S. imperialism is not just about spying, but the violation of Venezuelan airspace and sanctions against Venezuela. Bernie Sanders is wrong to slander late President Hugo Chavez as a dictator. The Socialist Party defeat in Venezuela is a setback and a threat to leftist government globally, especially in Latin America (as U.S. meddling and economic warfare had caused some goods shortage and high inflation rates). The Bolivarian Revolution since 1999 has given Venezuelans vast housing, health care, and education initiatives (with massive decreases in infant mortality). The extremist want to depose President Nicholas Maduro. The Bolivarian government did the right thing to offer aid to the people of New Orleans after Katrina and free plus low cost heating oil to communities like in the Bronx, New York. We are against U.S. white supremacy, imperialism, economic exploitation, etc. We believe in human rights and social justice. The Venezuelan people have the right to self-determination.

The antebellum period of Norfolk, Virginia lasted from 1783 to 1861. 4 years after the Revolutionary War, a fire existed on the city’s waterfront. It destroyed 300 buildings and the city experienced a serious economic setback. By the turn of the 19th century, Fort Norfolk was constructed by the Federal government to guard the harbor. During the 1820’s, the agricultural communities of South Hampton Roads experienced recession. This resulted in the emigration of families from the region to other areas of the South like in the frontier areas being opened for settlement. From 1820 to 1830, there was a drop in overall population of about 15,000 in Norfolk, despite the fact that other urban areas experienced significant population growth. Southern states like Virginia including other states had slavery. Virginia had a mixed agricultural economy. Some people wanted slavery to be phased out via law (like Thomas Jefferson Randolph’s 1832 resolution) or “repatriate” black people to Africa to establish a colony in Liberia. The American Colonization Society (ACS), established in 1816, was the largest of groups founded for that purpose. Many emigrants from Virginia and North Carolina embarked for Africa from Norfolk. One such emigrant was Joseph Jenkins Roberts (an African American man), a native of Norfolk who would go on to become the first president of Liberia. Active emigration through the ACS came to an end following the Civil War. In 1840, Norfolk’s population was 10,920 for the borough proper (not including the rest of the county). Education and culture developed. By 1841, there was an ambition new school building completed for Norfolk Academy. It was designed by Homas U. Walter. He wanted it to be a replica of the temple of Theseus in Athens. In 1845, Norfolk was incorporated as a city. In 1850, the city’s population was about 14,000 persons including 4,000 enslaved African Americans and 1,000 free African Americans. There was the growth of transportation. In 1832 the steam ferry Gosport began service, linking Norfolk and Portsmouth. In 1851, the Commonwealth authorized the charter of an 80-mile (130 km) railroad connecting busy port of Norfolk and the growing industrial city of Petersburg. Completed in 1858, this important line was the predecessor of today's Norfolk Southern Railway. By 1855, yellow fever existed in Norfolk, Portsmouth, and other areas of Hampton Roads. It caused by the ship Benjamin Franklin coming into Portsmouth for urgent repairs. The city’s health officer found something strange. The ship was held in anchor in harbor for 11 days. The captain claimed that the ship was free of disease. Days of the ship’s docking, yellow fever came to people whose homes were near the wharf. In July, the epidemic was in full outbreak in Hampton Roads. Over 3,000 people in the region, 2,000 of them in Norfolk died. In its peak, 100 people died per day in Norfolk alone. In 1856 the Sisters of Charity founded St. Vincent's Hospital, in part as a reaction to the previous year's epidemic. The population didn’t reach its 1850 census again until after the Civil War.

By 1970, the Black Panthers were attacked by the FBI, police agencies, and informants. The Black Panther Party was funded by many people. The Oakland BPP had another confrontation with the police with guns and fragmentation bombs in the Spring of 1970. 2 officers were wounded. Huey P. Newton’s conviction is overturned in May of 1970, but he remained incarcerated in May of 1970. In July 1970, Newton tells the New York Times that, “we’ve never advocated violence.” He is released from prison by August 1970. In the same year, many Black Panthers traveled overseas to promote anti-imperialism and solidarity with Third World activists. Some Panthers went into Asia and were welcomed guests of the governments in North Vietnam, North Korea, and China. The group's first stop was in North Korea, where the Panthers met with local officials to discuss ways that they could help each other fight American imperialism. Eldridge Cleaver traveled to Pyongyang twice in 1969 and 1970, and following these trips he made an effort to publicize the writings and works of North Korean leader Kim Il-sung in the United States. After North Korea, the group traveled to North Vietnam with the same agenda in mind: finding ways to put an end to American imperialism. Eldridge Cleaver was invited to speak to Black GIs by the Northern Vietnamese government. He encouraged them to join the Black Liberation Struggle by arguing that the United States is only using them for their own purposes. Instead of risking their lives on the battlefield for a country that continues to oppress them, Cleaver believes the black GIs should risk their lives in support of their own liberation. After Vietnam, Cleaver met with the Chinese ambassador to Algeria to express their mutual animosity towards the American government. Algeria held its first Pan-African Cultural Festival. They invited many important figures from America. Bobby Seale and Eldridge Cleaver were invited. The cultural festival allowed Black Panthers to network with representatives of various international anti-imperialist movements. It is at this festival where Cleaver met with the ambassador of North Korea, who later invited him to their International Conference of Revolutionary Journalists in Pyongyang. Eldridge also met Yasser Arafat, and gave a speech supporting the Palestinians and their goal of achieving liberation.

The media now are talking about meth addiction since mostly white people are experiencing it in America. When black people were suffering the crack epidemic of the 1980’s, the media called black people every name under the sun and even glamorized the harsh laws from the Reagan administration. Reagan is also responsible for a lot of evil War on Drugs policies in America. Yes, Clinton’s advisers (many of them were CFR members, members of the Trilateral Commission, etc.) were responsible for the racist guidelines in drug policies. I was a child and a teenager when Bill Clinton was President. He beat George H. W. Bush during the 1992 election because of the U.S. recession back then. In retrospect, Clinton was a centrist not a very strong progressive. Many are right on exposing the system (which wants to control and destroy black people). The system was never originated created for us to begin with. Our ancestors were treated as property and our ancestors built this nation. We know how they or the racists and the one percent roll. That is why I believe in revolutionary solutions for our black people. The one percent has orchestrated these problems not black people collectively. Black people collectively has never restricted non blacks collectively in health care, job opportunities, employment in general, and other facets of human existence. Also, many people, who want to slam the BLM movement, ignore racial discrimination and racial disparities in the criminal justice system, the War on Drugs, etc. I don't believe in class reductionism. There is classism, racism, sexism, etc. in the world and the more people stop minimizing oppression and focus on confronting oppression, the better off society will be. Society has been divided in many ways for thousands of years. That still never stopped people from trying to make society better. There is the poor and the middle class being played against each other by the super wealthy, but the system of racism/white supremacy should never be ignored. There has been more than 400 years of white racist terrorism against black people and other people of color. The system of racism/white supremacy has been involved in classism, murder, wars, genocides, etc. The terrorism of the system of white supremacy must be stopped. Economic exploitation and classism should end too. So, all forms of oppression must end.
Also, black people have every right to fight for black liberation.
#Black Lives Matter

During this day, we reflect on many things during the holiday season. We believe in peace, tolerance, brotherhood, sisterhood, and justice. We want to live in a world where there is tranquility and peace. Likewise, the current situation today shows us that we have a long way to go in fulfilling the same goal that we all desire. So, there is no peace on Earth in 2015. Yet, we will fight for it and we believe in the courage of the Savior of the Universe. We have to maintain the principle that this time of the year should not be used for the promotion of frantic merchandising or materialism. We have to stand up for what is right. It is not right to witness Western warplanes and drones bomb and kill plus maiming indiscriminately millions of people in the Middle East plus Africa. We see Germany and Japan remilitarizing in a way that hasn’t been witnessed in decades. We witness millions of human beings displaced by war and poverty. Many refugees suffer discrimination, assault, and barbed wire. Over 3,000 human beings have died in seeking to cross into Europe including 1,000 children. Also, compassionate human beings have shown refugees compassion with open arms. In America, one in five children live in food insecure households and millions of people struggle to get income for basic necessities. We are opposed to xenophobia, jingoistic nationalism, communal hatred, and bigotry. When one Republican Presidential candidate (who is Donald Trump) called many Mexican people rapists and calling for the ban of all Muslims from entering the country, then we have a problem here. In Germany, Angela Merkel, the supposed promoter of the “welcoming culture,” declares that “multiculturalism is a sham.” Angela is wrong. In France, the ruling Socialist Party, seeking to enshrine a permanent state of emergency into the constitution, is bent on obtaining the power to strip dual citizens of their nationality, a measure last used in France during the mass deportation of Jews under the Vichy Regime during the Holocaust. In the midst of this, there is still a remnant of people who know the truth. So, we believe in showing compassion to the tornado victims of the South. The Savior opposed the corruption found in the Roman Empire and he sacrificed his life for the lives of all. So, we should use this day to reflect, to pray, and to act in a positive fashion.

The American Civil War was one of the most important events in human history. Norfolk, Virginia had a huge amount of history in the Civil War. By early 1861, Norfolk voters instructed their delegate to vote for the ratification of the ordinance of secession. Soon, Virginia voted to secede from the Union. Richmond became the capital of the Confederacy and the Civil War started. When Virginia joined the Confederacy, they demanded the surrender of all Federal property in their state, including the Norfolk Navy Yard (then called Gosport Shipyard). Failure for an elaborate Confederate ruse orchestrated by civilian railroad builder, and future Confederate general (William Mahone) the Union shipyard commander Charles Stewart McCauley ordered the burning of the shipyard and the evacuation of its personal to Fort Monroe across the Hampton Roads. The capture of the shipyard allowed a tremendous amount of war material to fall into Confederate hands including the remains of the burned and scuttled naval frigate USS Merrimac. In the spring of 1862, the remains of the USS Merrimac were rebuilt at Norfolk Navy Yard as an ironclad. It was remained the CSS Virginia. The Battle of Hampton Roads began on March 8, 1862. The battle would ultimately ended in a stalemate however, as neither navy was able to do significant damage to the other due to the heavy armor plating. Over the next several months, CSS Virginia tried in vain to engage the Monitor, but the USS Monitor was under strict orders not to fight unless absolutely necessary. On May 6, while the Union Army under General B. McClellan was fighting the Peninsula Campaign, President Abraham Lincoln visited Fort Monroe (in Hampton, Virginia) across Hampton Roads. Recognizing the value of Norfolk, Abraham Lincoln decided to create a plan to capture the city and thus eliminate the base of the CSS Virginia. On May 8, Union ships including the USS Monitor and batteries on Fort Wool opened fire on the Confederate batteries on Sewell’s Point. Only the approach of the CSS Virginia drove the Union ships back to the protection of Fort Monroe. At this point, Lincoln directed the invasion to be on Willoughby Spit (or on Ocean View), away from the Confederate batteries, the next day. On the morning of May 10, 1862, General John Wool landed 6,000 Union soldiers on Willoughby Spit. Within hours, the Union troops arrived at Norfolk. Mayor William Lamb surrendered the city without firing a shot. For the duration of the Civil War, the city was held under Martial law. Many private and public buildings were confiscated for federal use, including nearby plantations. Mayor Lamb did manage to successfully hide the city's colonial era silver mace underneath a fireplace hearth to avoid having it confiscated or melted down by union troops. Enslaved African American in Norfolk didn’t wait until the end of the war to be emancipated. With the arrival of Union troops, thousands of slaves escaped to Norfolk and Fort Monroe to claim their freedom. Even before the arrival of northern missionaries, African American began to set up schools for children and adults both.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Panther Movement wanted the same goal (which is justice, freedom, and equality for all) despite their disagreements on nonviolence. I view them as part of the same struggle for black liberation. Also, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used civil disobedience, went to jail, and violated the law in numerous times. He wasn't an ascetic. He also advocated a work stoppage and he was much more radical than some view him as well. My philosophy is to use nonviolence, protests, community organization, economic strategies, political strategies, and if necessary self-defense to enact real social change. Colorism is a serious problem in the world. I don't believe that most black people view every single light skinned person as having success by their skin complexion alone. Tinashe is a young woman. I heard of her a few months ago. Light skinned human beings do suffer racism, discrimination, and stereotypes. Yet, it is a fact, as documented by studies, that dark skinned people on average suffer more discrimination and racism. She has the right to express herself, but the powers that be will prop people up irrespective of talent level. Her phenotype has been promoted for a long time. That is the mainstream industry.Black people collectively shouldn't be blamed for all the mechanisms of the industry. I don't believe that black people of any hue (who is talented, qualified, and have great determination) should be questioned of their work ethic. Black people in general want many gifted black musicians to express their talent to the world. The problem is that the oligarchy controls who will be utilized. Also, many black people of darker hues are restricted of acting roles constantly. Many films have been whitewashed for years and decades. There is light privilege in society and the skeptics have to realize that. We want any black person of diverse hues to be free and to have justice. At the end of the day, regardless if we are light, brown, or dark, we face the same problem, and we want the same goal (which is freedom, justice, and equality for all black people). We are one black people. We are one.

This is an outrage (involving the crooked cops from San Francisco). The white racist cops, in this situation, aren't the only ones who have spewed such bigoted views. Cops nationwide have the exact same anti-black views as those SF police officers. The views of those bigoted cops are biased, evil, and have influenced their decision making process. That is one reason out of many why those racist cops should be fired. Any loophole in the future should be changed, so any like minded situations in the future will not prevent cops (who have spewed racist language in texts, etc.) from being fired. Cops handle life and death situations and we pay their salaries. Therefore, we should never tolerate this. Lynn Griffith has written information about 20 herbs that can be effective in the treatment of cancer. She has listed studies too as information. We know that herbs have been used as medicine to help humanity for thousands of years. Like always, people should talk with a qualified doctor to discuss options, dosages, etc. before using herbs and other forms of medicine. One great herb is astraglus. Astragalus is known to improve the human immune system and stimulate the bodies’ natural production of interferon as well as identify rogue cells. The MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas conducted research that concluded that taking Astragalus with radiotherapy doubled survival rate times. Red Clover, as said by Royal Marsden cancer centers, found that it has the ability to fight against estrogen driven cancers, including breast and prostate cancers. Echinacea is an herb that is a powerful immune system booster and is well known for its impact on colds. Research also indicates that it could be helpful for brain tumors due to its ability to increase white blood cells.

The Black Panthers grew in 1967. Governor Reagan wanted to pass the Mulford Act (which would be made into law) which would make the public carrying of loaded firearms illegal. This proposal came about in response to the actions of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. The Black Panthers protested this action in a historic event. On May 2, 1967, the California State Assembly Committee on Criminal Procedure was scheduled to convene to discuss what was known as the Mulford Act.” Eldridge Cleaver and Huey P. Newton created a plan to send a group of 26 armed Black Panthers which would be led by Seale from Oakland to Sacramento to protest the bill. The group entered the assembly and they carried their weapons. This event was publicized worldwide. The police arrested Seale and five others. He group pleaded guilty of misdemeanor charges of disrupting a legislative session. The Panthers acted courageously to stand up for their convictions. In June 1967, rebellions exist in many major cities like Newark, Cleveland, and Detroit. These cities of the North and the Midwest have suffered poverty and racial injustice for a long time. In August of 1967, the FBI or the Federal Bureau of Investigation directed its COINTELPRO evil program. This program wanted to “neutralize” (or destroy) Black Nationalist groups, progressive organizations, and any group that were against the status quo. The FBI readily used illegal tactics to try to fight the Black Panthers and other organizations that were in favor of social change. There is the incident between Huey P. Newton and police officer John Frey. This happened in October 28, 1967. Newton and his friend were pulled over by the Oakland Police Department officer John Frey. Frey called for backup after knowing who Newton was. When officer Herbert Heanes came to the scenes, shots were fired. All three were wounded. There have been different accounts of the incident. Frey was shot four times and died within the hour, while Heanes was left in serious condition with three bullet wounds. Black Panther David Hilliard took Newton to Oakland’s Kaiser Hospital, where he was admitted with a bullet wound to the abdomen. Newton was soon handcuffed to his bed and arrested for being accused of Frey's killing. Charges against Newton would be dropped by 1970. By December of 1967, the Black Panther increased its circulation tenfold. In January of 1968, Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter, deputy minister of defense for Southern California, organizes The Southern California branch of the BPP. The BPP office is at Central Ave. and 43rd Street. Then on January 16, 1968, something else happened. At 3:30am, San Francisco police officers break down the apartment door of Eldridge and Kathleen Cleaver. The officers ransack the apartment without a search warrant. Emory Douglas is also present. On February 8, 1968, in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on the campus of South Carolina State College, local police backed by the National Guard fire on a crowd of unarmed students; 33 black activists are shot, and three die.

This situation was a tragedy. No indictments being made in this case is very hurtful for the family of Sandra Bland and hurtful for lovers of freedom including human justice in the world. Sandra Bland just wanted to go and experience a new job in the Deep South. First, we have to show the real story. We have to let people know that Sandra Bland was a victim of assault. She was a victim. Sandra Bland was assaulted by a cop and was violated of her human rights. She was threatened by the officer. When she questioned demands from police officer Brian Encinia to put out her cigarette (an unlawful demand), she was ordered out of the car. When she protested this outrageous treatment, she was threatened with a Taser by Encinia, who yelled, “I will light you up!” This is part of the story that many people (who love the status quo) ignore. She was slammed to the ground and arrested. She was placed into jail and she passed away. We have seen this story time after time again unfortunately. The authorities demonize a victim, no one is held accountable, and a family continues to grieve over the lost of their precious child. It is so aggravating that Sandra Blands's family has been so disrespected by the authorities in Texas. A night time rally recently existed in Houston. This rally is about respecting the memory of the Sister Sandra Bland. Sandra Bland was a beautiful, very intelligent Sister who was only 28 when she passed. Her life will always be remembered. The lives of black women matter and we will unequivocally stand up and speak up for the human rights of all black women irrespective of age or nationality. Since the late 1960's, there has been a higher mobilization of police occupation of our communities. Also, we see attacks against the working class and the poor via austerity, wars for empire, and other bad policies (from the one percent). I send prayers and condolences to the friends and family of Sandra Bland. People need to know that the Waller County, TX area is filled with racism and evil policies from law enforcement members. We will not be silent. We will never stop speaking the truth and fighting for our just liberation. We are unequivocally entitled to liberty, justice, and liberation. Also, that county is still being monitored by the DOJ over voting rights issues. That tells me that over 50 years after Selma, we have to continue to advance voting rights.
RIP Sister Sandra Bland.

This is great news. Afrikan Black Coalition should receive great credit for their actions. Divesting millions of dollars that was used to fund private prison is a step in the right direction. The prison industrial complex has ruined lives, exploited people, and harmed the social fabric of communities nationwide. Therefore, we are in this fight, so revolutionary change can exist for all in the human family. Wells Fargo has been involved in private prisons and has been sued by people for accusations of predatory lending. Using economic and political power can make real solutions come about. All levels of government must be held accountable for the mass incarceration oppressive system as Sister Tajmarie has mentioned. We will confront the evil War on Drugs, and other injustices found in the criminal injustice system. We won't stop, because we can't stop.The Mall is totally wrong. Public debate even can include people debating on clothing items in a store peacefully. So, this is a blatant violation of the First Amendment. The proposal from the Mall of America is very ambiguous and can be interpreted in many different ways. The BLM members listed by the Mall are heroes. Change never comes by respectability politics or working along side the system unconditionally. Change comes by directly opposing the mechanism of the system, sacrifice, agitation, and even using actions that risk jail time. The old civil rights heroes of the past were jailed for their activism against unjust laws. We are in solidarity with modern activists who want police terrorism to end in our communities, who want a clean environment, who want economic justice, and who want oppression to end.

There is a significant amount of Americans who are xenophobes, Islamophobes, and bigots. So, I'm not surprised at the high number of Donald Trump supporters. Trump has promoted hate, bigotry, and divisive rhetoric for years. To prevent every Muslim from going into America is fascism and that policy is what dictators agree with too. These people (who are Trump supporters) say that they want "their country back." The deal is that this country is not their country. This country is our country. Not to mention that I don't want this country to regress into a land where women couldn't vote, where forced sterilization was legalized in many states, or where black people suffered Jim Crow apartheid. Hate speech against Muslims has increased including vandalism against Muslim mosques in America too. Many innocent Muslims have been assaulted and verbally abused by callous, evil people. Cruz and Jeb Bush has spoke extremist rhetoric too. There are also white supremacist terrorists in America. Anyone who defends the immoral Japanese internment camps (which was supported by FDR) is someone that I have no respect for. This atmosphere is bigger than Donald Trump. Western forces bombed a civilian hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. We have the West being caught in torture and NSA spying. Racism and political reaction have always been associated with imperialist violence and war. Fifteen years of the “war on terror”—a period of continuous war unprecedented in American history—have caused people like Donald Trump to spew his evil words. In America, we have a huge amount of Islamophobia, which is against human values. I don't support Trump or his agenda. At the end of the day, I will not back down. I will support economic justice and social justice.

The third and last Democratic Presidential debate of the year was filled with fear mongering and war rhetoric. All three of the Presidential candidates talked about the war on terror and their pledge to destroy the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The debate took place on Saturday. This is after the December 2nd attacks in San Bernardino, California that killed 14 people. The debates talked about counter terrorism and the U.S. military operations in the Middle East. The media and the U.S. political establishment have used the attacks in San Bernardino and in Paris as a means to promote the bogus narrative of the “war on terror.” Domestic questions were not discussed very much in the debate. Senator Bernie Sanders only spoke about “inequality” only one time during the debate. Sanders have talked about terror and ISIS during many occasions of the debate too. The American media has paranoia about terrorism. The New York Times has an article that believes that more Americans want to target the Islamic State more than Wall Street executives and health insurers. America averages in one mass shooting per day. The debate between Sanders, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley underscored the fact that the mass opposition to war that exists in the American population does not find reflection in the programs of any of the candidates running in the 2016 election. This includes Sanders, whose support for both the war in Afghanistan and the bombing of Libya was pointed out during the debate. Hillary Clinton said that she wants to keep American families safe from terrorism. She said that she has a strategy to combat and defeat ISIS without getting involved in another ground war. Hillary Clinton is more hawkish than any of the Democratic candidates. She targeted Republicans on their views on Muslims and she believes in let people who are on the no fly list to not buy guns.

Clinton was referring to secret lists kept by US intelligence agencies of those allegedly suspected of terrorism. Among those named on no-fly lists were the musician formerly known as Cat Stevens, Senator Edward Kennedy and Representative John Lewis, as well as prominent journalists. So, many innocent people are in no fly lists. Hillary Clinton wants technology companies to work with the U.S. government to spy on the Internet and social media activity of their customers and turn this information over to the government. She declared, “We have to do the best possible job of sharing intelligence and information. That now includes the Internet…That means we have to work more closely with our great tech companies. They can’t see the government as an adversary; we can’t see them as obstructionists. We’ve got to figure out how we can do more to understand who is saying what and what they’re planning.” This policy is a violation of human privacy outright. In his opening statement, Sanders declared, “I’m running for president because I want a new foreign policy—one that takes on ISIS, one that destroys ISIS” and that “works around a major coalition of wealthy and powerful nations supporting Muslim troops on the ground.” Clinton promotes a no fly zone in Syria. In essence, all 3 candidates agree with U.S. President Barack Obama’s views on the Syria conflict. They want the U.S. to establish a puppet state after Assad is gone, they want regional proxy forces (like Saudi Arabia, etc.) to use their forces in the region. Sanders wants Saudi Arabia and Qatar to combat ISIS with American support. War mongering is promoted while poverty and social distress at home wasn’t talked about much in the debate. Clinton made this particularly clear in Saturday’s debate, declaring, “I don’t think we should be imposing new big programs that are going to raise middle class families’ taxes.” Asked by a moderator, “Should corporate America love Hillary Clinton?” she replied, “Everybody should,” declaring “I want to be the president for the struggling, the striving and the successful,” and “I want to be a partner with the private sector.” There is no question that both the Republican and Democratic parties in their leaderships are right wing, pro-war, militarist, and hostile to the interests of the working class.

More than 60 Years have passed since the Montgomery Bus Boycott. We learn lessons from that event and we will continue to fight for the freedom of black people and of the rest of the human race. Black people in Montgomery, Alabama democratically decided that they would boycott the city buses until they were allowed to seat any location in a city buses that they desire. Alabama back then was filled with segregation or Jim Crow apartheid. Black people who rode segregated buses experienced violence, theft of their payment to the buses, unfair seating arrangements, verbal disrespect, and other forms of mistreatment. Black people have had enough and that is why black people organize the Bus Boycott. Rosa Parks was a hero was a leader in the movement. Yet, we have to acknowledge other black people who opposed injustice long before the boycott existed. In 1945, a black woman named Geneva Johnson just opposed injustice and she was arrested from the public transit bus in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1949, the black professor Jo Ann Robinson sat in the front of the bus and the bus driver screamed at her for doing so in 1949. Black women like Viola White, Claudette Colvin (who was a 15 year old high school student at the time refused to give up her bus seat to a white woman nine months before Rosa Parks did it), Katie Wingfield, and other Sisters were arrested for challenged the white racist power structure involving segregated public bus lines and refusal to vacate seating reserved of white passengers. It was the federal court suit involving Colvin that eventually led to a Supreme Court order outlawing segregated buses. Epsie Worthy in 1953 was robbed of her transfer fee on the bus. Later, the bus driver assaulted her unjustly. Epsie used self-defense to defend herself and she was arrested. She had to pay a 52 dollar fine and spent time in jail. During the 1950’s, Pastor Vernon Johns (one of the greatest civil rights leaders in history) was forced to give up his seat to a white man. He later tried to get other black people to leave the bus in protest. In September 1, 1954, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. In March 2, 1955, 15 year old Claudette Colvin was arrested for refusing to get up from her seat. In October 21, 1955, 18 year old Mary Louise Smith was arrested. Rosa Parks (who was a social activist long before the 1950’s) was arrested too since she refused to get up from a seat.

Rosa Parks was arrested in December 1, 1955. The boycott lasted for 13 months. The Womens’ Political Council of the WPC was created in 1946 to fight Jim Crow oppression on Montgomery city buses. They met with Mayor W. A. Gayle in March of 1954 to fight for justice. WPC President was Jo Ann Robinson. Rosa Parks (who was bailed out of jail by E.D. Nixon, Clifford Durr, and Virginia Durr) and others were involved in the boycott. Black women led the movement too. Many black women were laborers, teachers, nurses, etc. They relied on the buses heavily to travel to and from work. The white population in Montgomery heavily on black people too economically. So, the bus boycott revolved heavily involved a collaboration between the black poor, the black working class, and the black middle class in order for them to work together. In that sense, the boycott would be successful. Black people formed taxi services to get black workers to and from work during the bus boycott. E.D. Nixon was the past NAACP leader of the Montgomery chapter. The new minister Dr. King Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy (both preachers) worked in the boycott movement too. Many of the plans and actions of the boycott were organized in churches like Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and especially at the Holt Street Baptist Church. The Montgomery Improvement Association was one leading group in the movement. Dr. King was elected President of the MIA in December 5. He was elected President since Dr. King was new and he wasn’t in Montgomery long enough to have strong friends or enemies according to Rosa Parks. Tuskegee and Montgomery attorney Fred Gray represented Colvin days following her arrest and Parks in the boycott case. Also, Claudette Colvin was a social activist too. She was part of Rosa Parks Youth Council in the NAACP. E.D. Nixon was a strong organizer of the Bus Boycott. During the 1920’s and the 1930’s, Nixon worked with the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. This was lead by A. Philip Randolph and this group wanted to organize workers into that union. Also, Rosa Parks didn’t rule out the righteous use of force. Rosa Parks admired Malcolm X and spoke in the funeral of Robert Williams, who supported armed self defense by the black community.

The boycott caused 90 percent of Montgomery’s black citizens to not ride public buses. The demands of the MIA were rejected by the white establishment, so the boycott continued well into 1956. A carpool services existed on the advice of T.J. Jemison (who organize a carpool during the 1953 bus boycott in Baton Rouge). The MIA carpool had about 300 cars. Early meetings between city officials and the MIA caused no real agreement (which was organized by Robert Hughes tans others of the Alabama Council for Human Relations). In early 1956, the homes of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and E.D. Nixon were bombed. Dr. King’s house was bombed in January 30, 1956. Dr. King claimed the crowd, some of whom wanted violent retaliation by saying: “…Be calm as I and my family are. We are not hurt and remember that if anything happens to me, there will be others to take my place.’’ On February 1, 1956 Fred D. Gray and Charles D. Langford file the Browder v. Gayle lawsuit on behalf of four female plaintiffs to challenge the constitutionality of city and state bus segregation laws. On that date, the home of E.D. Nixon was bombed. No one is injured. By February of 1953, the city used an injunction against the boycott. Over 80 boycott leaders were indicted. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was tired and convicted on the charge (of promoting conspiracies that interfered with lawful business which can from a 1921 law). A National Deliverance Day of Prayer (on March 28, 1956) to support the bus boycott takes place, with several cities outside the South taking part.
Women such as Robinson, Johnnie Carr, and Irene West sustained the MIA committees and volunteer networks. Mary Fair Burks of the WPC also attributed the success of the boycott to ‘‘the nameless cooks and maids who walked endless miles for a year to bring about the breach in the walls of segregation’’ (Burks, ‘‘Trailblazers,’’ 82). Bayard Rustin and Blenn E. Smiley gave Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. advice on nonviolence, especially on Gandhian techniques. Rustin, Ella Baker, and Stanley Levison founded In Friendship to raise funds in the North for southern civil rights efforts, including the bus boycott. The MIA was supported nationwide and worldwide. More media coverage came about to describe the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In June 18, 1956, Rev. U. J. Fields apologized to the MIA in a mass meeting for making the causation that MIA leaders were misusing funds. On June 5, 1956, the federal district court ruled in Browder v. Gayle that bus segregation was unconstitutional, and in November 1956 the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed Browder v. Gayle and struck down laws requiring segregated seating on public buses. The court’s decision came the same day that King and the MIA were in circuit court challenging an injunction against the MIA carpools. Later, the MIA waited until the order to desegregate the buses came to Montgomery. The Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s ruling. So, on December 20, 1956, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called an end to the boycott. The community agreed. The next day, Dr. King, Ralph Abernathy, Ed. D Nixon, and Glenn Smiley boarded an integrated bus. King said of the bus boycott: ‘‘We came to see that, in the long run, it is more honorable to walk in dignity than ride in humiliation. So … we decided to substitute tired feet for tired souls, and walk the streets of Montgomery’’ (Papers 3:486). Violence continued against black people. In December 23, 1956, someone fires a gun shoot into Dr. King’s home. The next day, 5 cowardly white men attacked a 15 year old black girl at a Montgomery bus stop. Rosa Jordan was shot in both legs in December 26, 1956. On January 10, 1957, four churches and two homes are bombed: Bell Street Baptist, Hutchinson Street Baptist, First Baptist and Mount Olive Baptist, plus the homes of the Revs. Robert Graetz and Ralph Abernathy. An unexploded bomb is found on the porch of King’s parsonage. So, white racist terrorism was common then and now. The Montgomery Bus Boycott represented a new era of the civil rights movement and it was the beginning of the end of the evil of legalized Jim Crow apartheid. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was the blueprint of not just opposing segregation in the South, but opposition to any injustice in general.

The movie Chi-Raq has been filled with excitement and controversy. People love or hate the movie. The movie was directed by Spike Lee. It was written by Spike Lee and Kevin Wilmott. The movie to Spike Lee was a satire in the social life of Chicago. Spike Lee has been praised and criticized of the film and he has defended his movie in sometimes an angry fashion. The film deals with gang warfare, violence, social breakdown, poverty, police brutality, political corruption, inequality, etc. These are all serious issues that have the right to be told. First, an outline of the film should be shown including its strengths and weaknesses. Like always, the audience has the right to decide how they feel about the film. The film is based on the classical Greek comedy by Aristophanes called “Lysistrata.” In Aristophanes’ comedy (which was written about 411 B.C.), it showed a story about a group of Athenian and Spartan women who withhold all sexual privileges to their husbands and lovers in an effort to stop the Peloponnesian War between the two rival Greek city states. Chi-Raq is the portmanteau of “Chicago" and “Iraq.” I don’t agree with that name since it disrespects people of Chicago, Chicago is not Iraq, and it was a term used by many people to glamorize violence and murder in Chicago (as more than 7,000 people have died in Chicago via gun violence since the early 2000s. We know this is higher than the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined. This is not higher than the amount of civilians who died in both countries. So, I want to make that clear). He or Spike Lee could have used another title for the movie. The film talked about the situation in Chicago as an Emergency, which is accurate. Samuel L. Jackson played the fedora wearing Diomedes, who is the narrator and leader of the chorus. He introduces the audience about the pain, misery, and strife in Chicago. Later, a hip hop concert comes about. Nick Cannon plays the rap artist Demetrius Dupree. He is the head of the Spartan gang. He brags that he will kill the members of the revival Trojan gang. A Trojan in the crowd then shoots at the stage. Many gang members are severely injured in the shooting. Demetrius’ girlfriend is Lysistrata (played by Teyonah Parris, who is a talented actress). They make love and then the head of the Trojans named Cyclops (played by Wesley Snipes) tries to burn the house down. Both escape and exchange of gunfire with Cyclops occurs. A young girl was shot and killed by gang violence.

Irene is the anguished mother of the girl. Irene is played by Jennifer Hudson. She is consoled by the grieving crowing including a white priest Father Mike Corridan (played by John Cusack). The Chorridan character is similar to the priest Michael Pfleger, who is a real life social activist involving the African American neighborhood of Auburn Gresham on Chicago’s Far South Side. The death of Irene’s daughter caused many younger women (including Lysistra) to try to go on a sex strike to end the gang violence in Chicago. Miss Helen (played by Angela Bassett) counsels the young women. The strike is led by Lysistrata. Then, the young women take over an armory and seduce a racist general named King Kong (David Kelley) and his troops. They then lock themselves up in an effort to deny all men “access or entry.” Chicago police arrive on the scene and act largely as neutral bystanders to this battle of the sexes. The women’s sex strike spreads worldwide, sexually frustrating male partners everywhere. The film shows rallies and protests from activists. Signs that want to end the violence exist too. Overall, the film is not a documentary. It is a satire. The film’s location is in Englewood or the Southwest Side of Chicago. This neighborhood has a poor working class people. It has an official unemployment rate of 21.3 percent and a per capital income of $11,993, with 42.2 percent living below the poverty level and nearly 30 percent without a high school diploma. Chicago is also home to more than 106,800 millionaires, 804 multi-millionaires and 15 billionaires. So, we see that economic inequality is one serious issue in Chicago along with violence, police brutality, racism, sexism, etc. The strengths of the film are that it shows the seriousness of violence and police brutality in Chicago. It shows rallies and concerned people who want change. Also, it deals with families of the victims of gun violence too. There are many weaknesses of the film. One is that it heavily immunizes the impact of gentrification, economic exploitation, school closures, the War on Drugs, and other forces (not the people of Chicago) that contributes to the problems in Chicago. Many scenes of the film are overtly misogynist in claiming that women seducing men will somehow change society. Women are entitled to their own bodies. Women in the film are placed as sex props as a way to try to address issues. There are many external factors that contribute to the problems in Chicago, and other cities in America. There is another issue in the film too. The film seem to see that he problem in Chicago is fueled by black on black violence not on social inequality and the system of oppression (which is the origin of the oppression in the first place). Spike Lee has admitted that this (or the talk about intraracial violence) is what he wanted his film to be like. He told the Los Angeles Times, for example: “I would be less of a person if I’m out there on the streets talking about the cops and private citizens who killed our people and then remain mum about us killing ourselves.” To Deadline Hollywood, Lee commented that the problem in neighborhoods in major cities like Chicago was basically “self-inflicted genocide.” He went on, “There’s a situation in America where young black men are killing young black men at alarming rates and Chicago, or Chiraq, is really like the poster boy for this.” The truth is that black people have exposed intraracial violence in rallies, protests, programs, etc. for years and decades in Chicago including throughout the Earth. He is an ally of the Democratic administration and he views gun control as a solution to violence. Yet, the film allows American capitalism (the source of the social misery, violence, alienation, etc.) off the hook entirely. If Spike was to expose capitalism, then he would be massively criticized by the establishment and that’s a fact. Chicago has a political crisis with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (and the police institution) covering up police killings. There is violence and systematic police brutality in Chicago. There should be a revolutionary solutions to solve problems. There is an attack on the living conditions of the poor and the working class by the ruling class (not by all black people) and their political representatives. Therefore, the film Chi-Raq in my opinion is filled with strengths and weaknesses. It is up to you to watch it or not. You have the choice. I’m a fan of many Spike Lee films like Malcolm X, Do the Right Thing, and Clockers.

I hope that the murderer Ethan Couch is captured. He is the on the run and his mother is missing as well. His arrogance is toxic. Also, we have to end the classist lie that the more wealth someone has, the more integrity a person has. This story proves that precept to be a myth. For that murderer to shed innocent blood and to gloat about it shows how callous many people are. There is the double standard here. If a black people did what he did, they wouldn't classify the black person's actions as "affleuenza." They would classify the actions in other terminology. At the end of the day, we want the authorities to send that murderer back into prison.Mentioning the truth that the first humans on Earth is of black African descent is not racist. That is a historical fact. I believe in fighting the prison industrial complex, opposing racism, and following the principle of wanting social justice. That isn't being divisive. That's being real.

For a cop, involved in the murder of Amadou Diallo, to receive a promotion is a disgrace. I remember when the events happened. It happened in early 1999 when I was in high school. Hundreds of courageous protesters were arrested back in NYC over 10 years ago, because they stood up against the police terrorism of black and brown communities. Back then, Patrick Lynch defended the murdering cops. Sister Kadiatou Diallo is right. In this sense, the struggle continues. We believe in goodness. We want to help fellow people in this life. One of the ways to help human beings is to pray, to defend the families of the victims of evil, and stand up for what is right. Kenneth Boss should be immediately fired. Him receiving a promotion is disrespectful to Amandou Daillo's family. The Blue Wall of Silence (as the NYPD is a large police force with massive surveillance powers, etc.) certainly must end order for not only accountability to exist, but for families to experience justice. The SCU squad was like a terrorist squad. These crooked cops inflicted harassment, abuse, and even murder against our communities in the States. The struggle continues without question.

We are right all along about him or Gilbert Arenas. He has made disrespectful comments about the WNBA and he's wrong completely. He's an insecure male (not man). If he was a real man, he would confront the problems facing black people (from poverty to police terrorism). If he was a real man, he would defend the right of women to pursue their lives as they see fit. If he was a real man, he would be in favor of progressive insights and justice for all. So, he wants to make immature, rash, and downright disrespectful comments since he's a misogynist. Beauty is diverse not monolithic. He has no shame. He cursing out those who disagrees with him shows how much a coward that he is. He is older than me with the mentality of an immature teen. I have 2 words for him and we know what those 2 words are (which are: I DISAGREE). He should be placed on ignore as other great commentators have mentioned here. Lisa Leslie was a legend including Sheryl Swoopes plus Tina Thompson. They can play basketball very well. Also, there are many talented women in the WNBA and in leagues worldwide. Also, the USA women Olympic basketball team has won gold in many times. Men on average are bigger than women, but that means that both sexes have different phenotypes and different genetics. Differences in phenotypes doesn't mean that men have a superior human value than women. Men and women are still human beings. All humans are created equal. Being equal doesn't mean everyone is identical. That means that all human beings are created with the same human value and should be treated with equity, respect, and justice. The more some folks are concerned with the talent of athletics than promoting a sexist agenda, the better off society will be. There should be justice for men and women. Many people don't like that concept, but that concept has stood the test of time. To this very day, there are amazing players in the NBA and in the WNBA (like Maya Moore, Tina Charles, Candace Parker, Nneka Ogwumike, etc.).

Serena Williams gave an excellent, magnificent speech. It was filled with eloquence, power, truth, and love. She loves us and we love her as a Sister, and as a great philanthropic black woman. Her words enrich our souls since they speak the truth that a black woman has the right to play tennis, a black woman has the right to fulfill her aspirations, any black woman has the right to rise. Our history is filled with stories of resiliency, hope, and inspiration. Serena is passionate about her principles and she has stood up for herself, black women, black people in general, and anyone else who desires to fulfill their dreams. She is a very beautiful black woman and she is the GOAT. She is the greatest of all time. Her quoting Maya Angelou sums it all. Serena is shining her light and she isn't done yet. She will continue to win tennis matches. She will continue to make a difference in society.

She has every right to run if she desires to. She is an American citizen. Also, we have to develop more of political independence. Both major capitalist parties (whom many of them are overtly brought and paid for by Big Business, Big Insurance, Big Agra, Big Oil, and other corporate interests) are complicit in trying to strife the power of third parties. They are also complicit in advancing imperialism, gentrification, the mass incarceration system, austerity, and other evils in America. So, I do encourage black people to run for office as Independents and we need more strong, progressive voices. Erica Garner and her family has been through so much. It is a total disgrace that the murderers of Eric Garner has not even experienced a trial. Even medical workers in that incident delayed their responses in helping Eric Garner. So, I have total opposition to the epidemic of police terrorism. If I was running for office, I would be overt in calling for living wages, for peace, for justice, for equality for all, for an end to the War on Drugs (to be replaced with alternative), for environmental justice, and for a radical, revolutionary change in society where the poor, the workers, and all benefit. I wish the best for Sister Erica Garner. More black voices (who care for the people) should be in office.
RIP Eric Garner.
#Black Lives Mater.

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I'm a young adult learning new information and finding the truth. Over the years, I'm becoming more meek. I will still defend my beliefs though when it is necessary. I am 33 years old now. I like living in Hampton Roads. Hampton Roads is apart of Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina. I live in the 7 city group of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Newport News, Hampton, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach. Yorktown, Williamsburg, Glocuster, Cape Charles, Elizabeth City, Currituck, Sussex, and Poquoson are apart of Hampton Roads as well. So, I don't forget those important places as well. I enjoy looking at religious information, conspiracy fact information, and politics. Additionally, History is a subject that I delve into. If you have any comments and questions, you can email me at truthseeker2436577@yahoo.com. I'm usually very apt to respond to emails easily. This is a non-censorship blog so your comments will never be censored here.